Monday, April 18, 2016

Week 86 - Springfield is really an awesome city

Lots of miracles this week! I am loving my new area! Springfield is a really awesome city and I have met some great people!!

Elder Soutas is a great companion. He is from South Jordan, UT and has been on his mission for a little over 10 months! We get along great and are working hard.

My first day here we met a lady who had referred herself on mormon.org​ named Audrey. She's from Mexico but has been living here for a while! She has some Mormon family members and a brother who is investigating in Champaign (about an hour from here)! She told us that she wanted to learn more because she had seen how happy it had made her family and wanted that for herself. She is pretty much golden! The next day we had a lesson with her and she made us some super good burgers where the patties were made out of black beans or something. They tasted great!! Audrey is so humble and wants to be baptized! It really is a huge miracle that the very first day I get here we get to start working with someone solid who I can practice Spanish with :)

We also met a man from Nigeria named Netty! We talked to him on the street not too far from where we live, actually! Later that week we visited him and taught his entire family about the Book of Mormon! They are Christian but are still super nice and willing to learn!! We have been amazed by the amount of diversity here. Especially in all the apartments near ours, we have been meeting all kinds of people jut walking around! Yesterday we met some people from France and two ladies from Togo (a French-speaking African country)! It is such a huge blessing! They are all so humble and willing to listen to us.

Sunday was a great day honestly. Audrey came to church!! She had to leave right after Sacrament Meeting but promised she would stay for the full three hours next week :) We will hopefully be setting a baptism date with her tomorrow. Pray for Audrey! She is so awesome!!

I've said it before and I'll say it again-- I love being a missionary! It has been such a wonderful experience to help people come closer to Christ and I am so grateful for this chance I have to serve in Springfield. I know I'm here for a reason! And even though things are going good now, we are determined to not get complacent or slow down :) This gospel is true!